July 18, 2006

Welcome to the Second Edition of The Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse

It's hard for me to believe that we are already here at the date of our second edition of the Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse. This has been a wonderful experience for me and I will be happily passing the baton onto at least five future hosts that I know of already who want to let this carnival travel to their blog. We are a wonderful, supportive group of blogging survivors and supporters. We rock!

I saw that, in our first edition, many bloggers visited the carnival participants and some lively commenting was going on. I trust that you will all participate in this second edition in like manner and make our new blogging survivor/supporter friends feel welcome.

***TRIGGER WARNING***

PLEASE USE CAUTION WHEN READING THE POSTS IN THE CARNIVAL. Much of this material could be highly triggering, especially for those with PTSD and/or dissociative disorders.

Survivor Stories

The author of PTSD Todayis used to writing about child abuse and PTSD in a clinical way. For our carnival, she showed much courage in writing about her personal story. I'm glad she felt able to share with us. She writes about retrieving abuse memories as being akin to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. On her Blog Carnival submission form she wrote these remarks: "This is my story about recovering memories. I didn't want to recover them. I certainly didn't know I had them. But after association after association, the protective part of my mind couldn't hold them back anymore. "Here's a refreshing survivor story with a happy ending, submitted by Brandi at Lone Star Academy, a homeschool blogger. She adopted a 14-month-old boy who was scared, malnourished and traumatized. As she celebrates her son's fourth birthday, she lets us see his growth and smiles in wonderful photographs.

Dreaming Again, of Pearls And Dreams, tells her storyfrom high school. The names have been changed to protect the innocent, but the story is all true. You might be surprised to read who the perpetrator is. I'm very proud of Dreaming Again for the courage she has recently shown in looking into her past. Great work!

PoetryWanda of Wanda's Wingshas written a poem called, "Remember."Reading it makes my heart ache for the precious, innocent, little girl that she was. Now she says, "It's hard to remember a life without fear." In her submission form comments, Wanda remarks, "Remember- It's a poem of a small child trying to hold together a family torn apart by abuse." Brian, aka Hummingbunny, of the Truth Is Freedom blog, wrote a poem trilogy called "Shadow Boxing In A Mirror." In his writing, Brian is finding his voice--the voice that was silenced in childhood. His submission remarks state, "The Shadow Boxing In A Mirror post is actually a trilogy, in which through poetry and stories, I come to grips with my childhood."

Jumping in Puddles from Lifespacings wrote a poem entitled, "Innocent Angels."It is excruciating to read, but not as excruciating as the abuse that was survived by a child.In The NewsTrish Wilson had a post from her blog, "The Countess," nominated by Marcella of Abyss2Hope. Thanks for the referral, Marcella! The Countess shows us a press releasefrom The Leadership Council, applauding the legal community for rejecting PAS--Parental Alienation Syndrome. This was a tactic used by lawyers to award custody to alleged child abusers. The news release refers to the "syndrome" as junk science. Now if we could just get the same light shed on "False Memory Syndrome!"

Healing & TherapyAlisha, of Alishas-Survivor-Struggles, included no remarks when she submitted her article about her personal healing journey. If she had, it may have sounded something like this: Listen to your inner voice. Listen to your body. There are many signs pointing to the path of healing.

Mike, of Child Abuse Survivor, was inspired by our first edition. He says so in his second edition submission remarks: "Inspired by items from the first carnival, thought it might be interesting!" Is that cool, or what? His new carnival post is called, "Disclosure."

Franki, fromSadly Normal, compares survivors to NASA astronauts. We all know the risks, but we take the leap anyway. Survivors take the leap into the recovery journey, astronauts take the leap into space. Franki likes the empowering concept of having the "Courage to Soar."

The blog, "The Thriver's Toolbox,"could just as easily be named, "The Optimist's Toolbox." The author of this blog has the pen name, April_Optimist. She often writes about healing and is one of the most optimistic survivors I know. She remarks, "I post my blog because I believe in the power we ALL have to overcome the pain of the past and be happy. I believe that we ALL deserve to feel the happiness and self-confidence that should be every child's birthright! And so I post to share the things I have learned that can help us achieve that goal." Her post for this carnival edition is about creating a "Habit of Hope."

Beautiful Dreamer, of the blog of the same name, is a survivor with DID. In her blog she wrote an open letter called, "Unmapped Miles."When submitting this letter, she remarked, "There is much pain in discovering one's multiplicity, but it can be a healing pain which allows the release of old secrets--a pain which can, eventually, transform into a new kind of joy based on truth."Emily, of Doing It All Again, was sent a social worker after she disclosed the sexual abuse from a relative (I believe it was her uncle). Her social worker experience story would be quite funny if it weren't so tragic. In her remarks, Emily says, "While this is rather comic, as the social worker I was given was a loon. I want to stress that I was lucky. I found people all through my life, including three long term boyfriends and my husband, who all did something to help me come to terms with it. Other people aren't so lucky. For those people, I fear that such a social worker experience would be devastating. This is for them." Advocacy & Awareness

Patty, My Painful Smiles, of the new site Lavender Power, had a post a couple of months back entitled, "Watch Out For Uncle Chester The Molester!"The post contained only one sentence. It was a powerful quote that I thought may be famous. Patty says it is her own. Maybe it's soon to be famous, who knows? Check out our comments back and forth at this post; there are some great quotes from Patty there as well. Her remarks state, "We no longer have to teach our children to be aware of strangers. It those that have built a Shield of Trust that are taking the innocense away from our Children. "

Last, but still not least, is my own post from a couple of months ago. It's a rant of sorts and it's called, "Are We Leaving The Door Wide Open For Child Abuse?"For those of you who commented about the last carnival being overly filled with child abuse accounts that were sexual abuse, please note: this post doesn't even mention sex. My concern is for abolishing ALL forms of child abuse.

I believe we are up to five bloggers now who are interested in hosting this carnival. I've got two more in addition to the three that I mentioned on the last post. That would bring us through to the end of the year with monthly carnivals. If there is anyone else who is interested in hosting that I may have forgotten, would you be so kind as to remind me? Thanks to everyone who showed great courage in participating. I appreciate you all!

thank you for using my celebration post. I hope to have another celebration post for the next Carnival plus I am going to write the adoption story you asked about as well. Praying for all those involved in this Carnival.

Franki: Thanks, I'm glad you found the carnival experience worthwhile. Yes, you are one of the five future hosts I was talking about. I've been keeping track of who's shown interest and thought we'd just do it first-come, first-served style. There are four ahead of you. Would you have a problem doing December? I really want you to host it. If you thought Dec. was too crazy a month, we could hold off 'til Jan. We'll chat, okay?

Well done once again Marj! I have slowly been reading the stories. I will continue to do so. What you are doing here is so very important. I know this took a lot of hard work on your part in pulling it all together. Know that it is appreciated.

About Me

My background is in advertising and corporate communications, then freelance writing for Chicago newspapers. After moving to Colorado, I'm now writing, advocating and working on my certificate in botanical illustration.